There are no Robin Hoods here, robbing the rich to feed the poor.
No, in the repeated robberies of Econo, this is robbing hard-working Ottawans. For the fourth time this year, someone has raided the small, four-pump, full-service station.
Crimes, pure and simple, made worse by the fact that the owners have put in years of work, only to have callous criminals snatch it away from them.
They’ve upped the security; steel bars over the doors. They’ve done, it seems, all that can be done to protect their business.
But on Monday, some hoodlum booted in the air conditioner and crawled through the hole. In a pink hoodie, this person smashed the cash register. No cash inside, but it was an expensive machine.
Owners Lok and Naresh Vanaik figure they’ve suffered $50,000 in loss and damage from the break-ins.
What is happening to our city?
It would never be right to raid a gas station register. But it’s a particular type of cancer on a town when the hardworking among us, the small businesspeople, the backbone of this economy, are victimized.
Hopefully, justice is found in this instance.
It’s almost enough for the Vanaiks to get out of the business altogether. The Sun’s Kelly Egan reports they’re considering turning the lot into rental housing.
This means the city will lose something. A bit of its heart and soul is gone when thoughtless criminals drive hardworking people out of business.
The loyal customers of the Econo will go somewhere else to gas up — the small bit of community built there, on the corner of Holland Avenue and Tyndall Street, will be gone.
And the five people the Vanaiks employ, well, they’d be out of work, too.
All because of neighbourhood crime.
We hear a lot about the sensational crimes. The shootings, the murders, the drug deals and overdoses.
But the small crimes, too, they tear at the soft underbelly of Ottawa.
It makes neighbourhoods harder to live in; makes people reluctant to start businesses and keep on going.
When life becomes harder because of crime, it’s time to step it up and take it seriously.
All crime has victims.
In this case, it’s a hardworking pair of people from India, who’ve operated a wonderful small business.
Shame on those who’d seek to destroy all they’ve built.

Heart and soul also stolen from small business owners

There are no Robin Hoods here, robbing the rich to feed the poor.
No, in the repeated robberies of Econo, this is robbing hard-working Ottawans. For the fourth time this year, someone has raided the small, four-pump, full-service station.
Crimes, pure and simple, made worse by the fact that the owners have put in years of work, only to have callous criminals snatch it away from them.
They’ve upped the security; steel bars over the doors. They’ve done, it seems, all that can be done to protect their business.
But on Monday, some hoodlum booted in the air conditioner and crawled through the hole. In a pink hoodie, this person smashed the cash register. No cash inside, but it was an expensive machine.
Owners Lok and Naresh Vanaik figure they’ve suffered $50,000 in loss and damage from the break-ins.
What is happening to our city?